Greek, Serbian FMs meet in Athens

They spoke about the European perspective of the Western Balkans, which Greek believes should join the European Union by 2014.

Droutsas added that in order to reach that goal, “respecting the principles of good neighborly relations is a very important condition.”

Jeremić said that Serbia has shown good will and he hopes that the countries of the region will show the same at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sarajevo on June 2, adding that he hopes the summit will be “a strong signal for the EU that the region has matured and is ready to cooperate, despite differences.”

Jeremić thanked Athens for offering Belgrade help in its “European perspective and fight for maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo, as well as economic cooperation.”

He said that Greece is Serbia’s most important partner in the Balkans, and said that he hopes that the EU will pass a decision for the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) in the coming weeks.

Jeremić said that it is important that all 27 EU member-states reach a consensus on Serbia’s further integrations.

He also thanked Greece for helping with the visa liberalization.

“This year, our citizens will be able to travel to the Greek sea much easier. They will spend their vacations in Greece, because there is no seacoast in the region where our citizens can feel better than in Greece,” Jeremić said.

He said that he hopes that a new record would be set this year for the number of Serbian tourists visiting Greece.

Droutsas said that Athens is ready to ratify the SAA immediately.

As far as Kosovo is concerned, he said that Greece cares most about the complete respecting of human rights in the province.